Tokugawa Hidetada

Tokugawa Hidetada (2 May 1579-14 March 1632) was the shogun of the Tokugawa Shogunate from 1605 to 1623, succeeding Ieyasu Tokugawa and preceding Tokugawa Iemitsu.

Biography
Hidetada was the son of Ieyasu Tokugawa and Lady Saigo, and he became his father's heir after he was forced to execute his son Nobuyasu Matsudaira and Nobuyasu's mother to prove his loyalty to Nobunaga Oda. Hidetada was held as a hostage by Hideyoshi Toyotomi from 1590 to 1593 to ensure Ieyasu's loyalty during the Fall of Odawara campaign with the Hojo clan, and he would be returned to his father's side in 1593. In 1605, Ieyasu abdicated as Shogun and made Hidetada the new shogun while he acted as his regent and protector, hoping to avoid the predicament that the Toyotomi faced (with Hideyoshi's death leading to Hideyori Toyotomi, his son, being inexperienced and weak). In 1615, he began the Osaka Campaign against Hideyori's Toyotomi forces in Osaka Castle, bringing order to Japan and cementing the rule of the Tokugawa over the islands. In 1623, Hidetada resigned from the shogunate so that his son Tokugawa Iemitsu could be shogun, with Hidetada continuing as regent. He banned Christian books, executed 55 Christians in Nagasaki in 1628, forced Christian daimyo to commit seppuku, and forced Christians to return to the Shinto faith. He died in 1632.

The Army of the Bravest Men
The 18th century folk legend "The Army of the Bravest Men" presented an alternate history in which Hidetada succeeded his father as shogun after his death in battle with Toyotomi brigands near the ruins of Ishiyama in 1616. Hidetada decided to reclaim his family's honor by leading 30 bodyguards to Kyoto to slay Sadakata Kira, the new shogun, but he is killed after a fierce battle with Toyotomi cavalry guards.